so ive been doing real estate drone work for about 8 months now and i think ive been massively underpricing myself this whole time. started at $150 for a basic package (like 10-15 edited stills, maybe a short video clip) and i bumped it up to $180 a few months ago but honestly after you factor in drive time, the actual shoot, culling and editing, uploading to their delivery portal... im maybe clearing like $30-40 an hour if im lucky.

spoke to a guy at my local flying club last weekend who said he charges $350 minimum for anything real estate related and doesnt budge on it. he said agents who push back on price arent worth working with anyway. part of me thinks hes right but part of me is scared to lose the clients i already have because theyre pretty steady work at this point.

curious what others are doing, like are you charging per photo, per hour, per listing? i cant figure out what the standard is supposed to be because every post i find online is either outdated or from some course trying to sell me something

your club friend is right honestly. $150-180 for real estate is really underselling it. i was in the same spot when i started, had a few agents who liked me and i was terrified to raise prices. eventually i just did it, sent a short email saying my rates were going up as of the new year and i think i lost one client out of like six. the others didnt even reply, they just kept booking.

i do $275 for stills only up to 20 images, $425 if they want the cinematic reel too, and i have a $75 travel fee for anything over 30 miles. the travel fee was a game changer because i was burning so much gas driving out to these rural listings and eating the cost. agents are used to paying fees, they get it.

one thing that helped me mentally was thinking about what the agent makes on a commission vs what theyre paying me. even a $300k listing is like $5-9k in their pocket. $275 for photos that literally help them sell it faster is nothing.

im kind of in the same boat as you so not sure i have great advice lol but one thing i read somewhere that stuck with me is to stop pricing per deliverable and start pricing per value. like youre not selling 15 photos, youre helping sell a house. framing it that way at least in my head helped me feel less weird about charging more.

havent fully made the jump yet myself but im planning to raise my rates after i get my part 107 renewal done, feels like a good natural moment to rebrand a bit